“Ladies and gentlemen, introducing from the yellow corner, in golden trunks — introducing the boxing professor from Accra, Ghana — the Terrible Terror, the Lion of Africa, the Super Featherweight Champion of the Wor-l-l-l-l-l-l-d d, Zoom Zoom Barima Azuma-a-a-a-a-a-h Nelson-n-n-n-n-n”.
For nearly two decades, the eardrums of Ghanaians, Africans and indeed, boxing enthusiasts around the world, were pleasantly tickled by such stylish ring announcements that presented the over 45 flowery, entertaining but sometimes ferocious fights involving the world’s only boxing professor, Samuel Azumah Nelson, born on July 17, 1958.
Without doubt, no African boxing gem has sparkled so brightly as Azumah Nelson, the man who injected vim into the featherweight division of world boxing from 1984 to 1998.
For a naturally quiet person, many have wondered why Azumah’s fists were full of so much dynamite. When The Mirror had the privilege to have a chat with the Champ last weekend, this question was put to him: “Prof, you’ve always had a smiling face and a pleasant demeanour sometimes but why were you so merciless in the ring?”
Hear him: “ I may be seen as a very nice person but I believe that I was born to be a boxing champion so I left nothing to chance anytime I was in the ring. As young as six years I knew I was going to be a great boxer and nothing or nobody could stop me except God”.
The highly religious boxing legend recounted an extremely interesting incident which tied the love knot between his tiny self (he was about seven years) and the bloody sport. He said his late father, Mr Tairo Nelson, a professional tailor, was a great boxing enthusiast who usually went with him to watch fights at Bukom and other parts of Accra.
He said during one of the fights that he watched with his father, the boxer who won the fight beat his opponent so badly that he (Azumah) got very angry and told his father that he would beat that boy for unleashing terror on the poor soul in the ring.
His father, who but for Azumah’s grandfather would have become a boxer himself, looked into Azumah’s eyes, laughed and told him not to mind the “wicked’ fighter. Unknown to Mr Tairo Nelson, his son would grow up to become a boxing legend and also unleash terror on his opponents.
Zoom Zoom, as he is affectionately called, threw his first serious boxing punch when he was nine years. According to him there was a shoe maker in their house at Mamprobi, Accra so a Sierra Leonean boxing coach, Wale Thom, brought a six year old boxer to the shoe maker to make boxing shoes for him.
“When I saw the tiny boy I wondered why Wale Thom described him as a boxer. I said to myself I could thrash him anywhere and anytime I met him, so later I decided to go and look for Thom to organise a fight for us”.
Azumah was confident that he was going to win because he was about two years older than the ‘small boy’ boxer. Eventually he met Thom, the coach, at Agbadu near the Akotoku Academy and threw a challenge to Wale Thom and his boy.
“We were given gloves and asked to enter the ring which was a square drawing in the sand, with wooden posts at the four corners. The small boy beat me mercilessly. The fact is that he had some boxing skills but I depended on my strength and size”, he recollected with a rather humorous smile.
While the boy punched hard and dodged Azumah’s blows brilliantly and simultaneously, Zoom Zoom was just throwing his hands with the view to flooring the younger chap.
“In fact I could not believe that I lost that fight. I could not sleep that night so the following day I went back to Wale Thom and demanded to fight the boy again. I lost again. In fact we had two more fights after that but the boy beat me on all occasions. However, I managed to get a fifth fight which turned out to be mine, I beat all the skills out of him”, he said.
After that, Azumah went around Mamprobi, James Town, Bukom And the Timber Market area fighting and defeating all the child boxers in the neighbourhood under the tutelage of Wale Thom.
Just around that time, the National Sports Council (NSC) boxing coach in Kumasi, Mr Attuquaye Clottey was transferred to Accra. When he arrived he opened the Akotoku Academy and enrolled boxers such as Kwartei Quartey, Judas Clottey, Napoleon Abbey, Daniel Mustapha, Moses Boyor and Azumah.
“Being the first of six siblings — three girls and three boys — I used to walk or trot from Mamprobi to Bukom for training sessions so that I could keep the little money I got from boxing and my coconut trade for the upkeep of my younger siblings. You know, my parents were poor”.
Nii Ajenkwa, Kojo Sardine, Kofi Badu And other boxing enthusiasts used to organise boxing tournaments at the Blue Lagoon Hotel at Sakaman near Odorkor and that was where Zoom Zoom fought and made some money for himself and family.
From the chat with the professor it was quite obvious that the circumstances under which he grew up did not make formal education so attractive to him. He attended the Local primary school near the Djufor Djaanor (Tuesday Market) near Mamprobi, Accra and later enrolled at the Mamprobi Sempe (2) Middle School.
He said because of his sporting activities and coconut business he always used to sleep in class. This compelled his class teacher to ask him to bring his parents to see him to discuss Azumah’s “problem” or stay out of his class. “I was in form two by then and the teacher’s actions paved the way for me to quit school entirely because already I did not find it interesting enough”, Zoom Zoom said.
In 1974, Azumah was poised to represent the Greater Accra Region in boxing at the National Sports Festival but he was dropped from the Accra team because the authorities said, for a 16-year-old chap, Azumah was too small and too young to fight in such a tough tournament.
A combination of determination and frustration literally pushed Azumah to approach Mr S. M. Alhassan who was then in-charge of Prisons Service Sports, to see if he could admit him into the service’s boxing team.
He was met with the same “you are too small and too young” response. Fortunately, however, the captain of the team, Adama Mensah, insisted that Azumah should be given the opportunity to prove himself. The result was a gold medal at the Sports Festival.
He was then enlisted into the Ghana Prisons Service where he worked as a service sportsman (boxer) for about four years. “While in the service I had many fights but the greatest one was with Ben Carl Lokko, a soldier, who bragged that I was too tiny. I did not fear him but my coach, Attuquaye Clottey, was afraid that Ben would hurt me.”
“I defeated him but my coach was not happy because, though he had warned me not to stand toe-to-toe with my opponent, I did just that. And the funny thing is that after the fight I congratulated Ben on his performance but that angered him and he retorted; “Who should congratulate his opponent, you small boy, after stopping me you have the guts to congratulate me, how?” Azumah recollected with a loud laughter.
Azumah turns pro After winning gold medals at the ECOWAS Games, All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games, The World Military Boxing Championships and the World Boxing Championships, Azumah was poised for gold at the Moscow Olympic games but Ghana withdrew from the games for political reasons.
To ensure that Azumah remained an amateur to continue winning medals for Ghana, Mr Kofi Badu one-time Chairman of the National Sports Council, seized his passport. And out of frustration he decided to turn professional under the management of Mr Samir Captan’s Sikaprix Promotions.
By boxing convention, all boxers turning professional are required to fight six-round bouts in their maiden fights but Azumah’s first professional fight was a 10 rounder against Billy Kwame, in 1979, which he won.
He fought and knocked out several opponents including, Nii Noi, Henry Saddler, Abdul Okpoti and Joe Skipper whom he knocked out in round 10 to win the Africa featherweight title.
On September 26, 1981, Azumah beat Brian Robertson to win the Commonwealth featherweight title and defended it till July, 1982 when he had the opportunity to fight the great Salvadore Sanchez. This marked a significant turning point in the life of the boxing legend.
“Sanchez was going to fight a Colombian fighter in order to get a shot at the world lightweight title but the guy was indisposed so Don King who was handling Sanchez decided that he was going to arrange for an “ordinary” boxer from Africa for Sanchez to walk over since the fight had already been built”, Zoom Zoom recounted.
He said he was contacted and asked to get ready within two weeks for the fight although such top fights required at least six weeks to prepare. On July 21, he slugged it out with the dreaded Sanchez over 15 rounds in New York, USA, and lost gallantly by a technical knockout (TKO).
“After the fight, Sanchez told Don King that if such a man is the cheap guy from Africa, then next time, he would prefer a strong man”, Azumah told The Mirror.
After his loss to Sanchez, Azumah’s ranking in the world dropped. But between July 21, 1982 and March 9, 1984 he fought six opponents and won all fights with four knock-outs. Azumah ‘zooms’ into stardom This feat brought him up again in the world ranking and also prepared the grounds for him to fight for the WBC featherweight title which was in the firm grips of the Puerto Rican, Wilfredo Gomez.
On December 8, 1984, Azumah came face to face with Gomez in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The fight was not easy but the boxing professor lifted high the flag of Ghana and took Gomez out in the 11th of the 12 round fight.
From then on Azumah put on his legendary gloves and shoes, danced, stung, punched and stopped many opponents in rings around the world. Some of the fighters who tasted his bitter pills include, Juvenal Ordenes, Pat Cowdell, Sidney Dal Rovere, Marcus Villasana, Danilo Carberra, Mauro Guitierrez, Mario Azabache Martinez, Lupe Suarez, Gabriel Ruelas and Jesse James Leija.
The Mirror: “Which of your opponents gave you the hardest punches during your entire career?” Azumah: “Undoubtedly, it was Azabache. The man’s blows were too hefty. In fact, during one of our two fights, he gave me a heavy punch and though I blocked it I felt it in my stomach”.
“And anytime I was in trouble, I danced and swung my right arm around just to show him that I was still strong. Charlie, looking at the flag of Ghana at that time did not change how I felt. The man was strong”.
More than half of the triple world champion’s fights were world title contests. His drawn fight and subsequent victory over Australian Jeff Fenech another triple world champion was one bout that many Ghanaians will always remember.
“Prof what do you say about that fight?” —” Oh, we both had a good fight in the first meeting but I wanted to show him when it comes to boxing, I am the father and anybody else is a son”.
Azumah said the father and son relationship that he established between himself and Jeff Fenech after his victory over the latter, has become very strong and the two of them communicate quite regularly.
One other fight that will permanently be tucked in the minds of Azumah’s fans is his loss, in 1990, to Pernell Whitaker, Incidentally it was around the same time that he lost his wife, the late Beatrice Tanoh.
During his 19-year professional career, he stopped 28 of his opponents within the distance, recording a total 38 wins, five losses and two draws.
His five defeats were at the hands of Salvadore Sanchez, Pernell Whitaker, Jesse James Leija (twice) and Genardo Hernandez. Nelson announced his retirement on November 6, 1998 and has vowed not to make a comeback.
His trainers included, Wale Thom, Attuquaye Clottey, Roy Ankrah, F. A. Moses, Klutei Robertson. Buffalo Martinez and Hector Perez.
His handlers at various stages of his professional career were, Sikaprix Promotions which had Samir Captan as its boss; Ringcraft Syndicate run by John Kermah, the late Seth Asah And Dr Oko Kwatekwei. Others were the great Don King and his son Carl King as well as Bob Arum who came on board during the dying embers of the Azumah story.
Zoom Zoom meets Peggy Now, professor, how did you meet your pretty wife, Peggy after you lost Bea?” “You go and ask Sammy Okaitey of the Graphic Sports and he will tell you everything”, he directed.
According to the story, the boxing king attended a reception held in his honour at the Labadi Beach Hotel where Peggy used to work as a front desk officer. As soon as Azumah set eyes on her he told her straight away that “ I will marry you”. And that was it, they got married.
Azumah has six beautiful children — three with his late wife, Bea and three with Peggy — they are David, Dorinda, Doris, Dennise, Dalvin and Delory. All of them are in school.
He is now a full time farmer and has a foundation for street children. Azumah is also the World Boxing Council (WBC) Ambassador for Africa. He drives a posh Lincoln Stretch Limousine, loves to read the Bible and play with his pets which include rabbits, a tortoise and dogs. He recently lost his dear deer.
“Anytime I die I will smile in my grave if I am buried with a bowl of hot, soft banku and some tasty okro sauce”. That is the boxing professor’s favourite meal. Any drinks? Any soft drink will do for the champ. The boxing professor in retirement For Azumah Nelson, boxing was just the theatre he needed to make money, not only for himself, but to put smiles on the faces of the disadvantaged. The long arm of his generosity has reached the Osu Children’s Home, the Tema SOS Village, the Akropong School for the Blind and the Dzorwulu Children’s Home.
He spends much of his time in retirement on his 100-acre teak farm and cattle ranch at Dodowa and another 100-acre livestock farm at Kasoa where he finds peace with rabbits, poultry and pigs.